Bernard Schoenburg: Durbin likes how campaign is unfolding

U.S. Sen. DICK DURBIN, D-Ill., says the voting public’s attraction to President BARACK OBAMA in 2008 had something in common with the start of a relationship.

U.S. Sen. DICK DURBIN, D-Ill., says the voting public’s attraction to President BARACK OBAMA in 2008 had something in common with the start of a relationship.

“Let’s be honest about this,” Durbin told reporters at the Hilton Springfield after a speech to the Illinois Association of Minorities in Government, “when Barack Obama ran four years ago, it was a first date, OK?

“And there’s always a level of excitement that is not often replicated. But I will tell you also, I think the majority of Americans believe in what he has brought to the leadership in the White House. They understand the challenge he faced with this economy, facing the worst situation since the Great Depression. They understand he kept America safe, that Osama bin Laden is no longer a threat to the United States.

“So on many counts, people, I think, feel that they made the right choice four years ago and believe he should have another opportunity to move this nation forward.”

Durbin said he started trying to convince Obama to get into the presidential race a couple of years before Obama took the plunge.

“He said, ‘Dick, I haven’t even been a senator for two years,’” Durbin recalled after getting Obama in a private conversation and telling him, “You’ve got to run for president.”

“And I said, ‘10,000 votes in the Senate will not make you a wise man. You’ve got something I’ve never seen before. I watched it at the Boston convention (where Obama delivered the keynote address to Democrats in 2004). I watched it when you came back to Illinois and campaigned for the … Senate. I’ve seen it in the Senate itself. And you have a way to reach people that many politicians don’t.’”

In front of the mostly black crowd, Durbin also talked about the “amazing changes in my lifetime,” like when “you and I witnessed … for the first time in the history of the United States” the swearing-in of the nation’s first black president.

And he recalled how, when he campaigned for Obama in Iowa, which “does not have a substantial minority population,” questions came up about electability and race.

“The folks in Iowa would say, ‘Durbin, close the door — do you really think he can carry the Iowa caucus?’”

“And I said, ‘I do. I’m from downstate Illinois. … It looks a lot like Iowa, and they voted for Barack Obama when they came to know him. When you come to know him, you’re going to want to vote for him, too.’ And that’s what happened.”

Durbin didn’t make a solid prediction for November, when voters will choose between Obama and Republican MITT ROMNEY.

“Let me just say it’s too early,” Durbin said. “Those who are looking at polls today, a little reminder — we still have debates, conventions, running mates, at least on one side, to be chosen. And I’ll bet you there’ll be a half a dozen things that’ll happen between now and the election which nobody here can even predict. So it’s a little early to be handicapping.

“But I feel good about the president’s position. I feel especially good about his campaign. They have been preparing on the ground for this for a long time. I think we have a good, strong re-election effort.”

Rasmussen visits
The NATO summit that went off relatively smoothly in Chicago last weekend had some spillover into Springfield, as the alliance’s secretary general, ANDERS FOGH RASMUSSEN, paid a quiet visit to the capital city.

Rasmussen went to the Executive Mansion to see Gov. PAT QUINN, and a spokeswoman for the governor said they discussed the just-past summit.

Quinn first met Rasmussen on a trip to Europe in March and had invited him to visit the mansion, spokeswoman ANNIE THOMPSON said.

Rasmussen, former prime minister of Denmark, made a higher-profile appearance in Springfield two years ago, when he attended the naturalization ceremony of his son, Springfield resident HENRIK RASMUSSEN.

The secretary general was back to visit the expanded family last week. Henrik and his wife, KRISTINA, now have twin girls.|

Kristina Rasmussen is executive vice president of the Illinois Policy Institute, a think tank with state budget ideas far from those of Quinn. But, she said, her father-in-law made the visit to the governor on his own. She was at the Statehouse.

A little too much information
Illinois Treasurer DAN RUTHERFORD is still providing what I consider TMI on Facebook. Several days ago, it was a picture of himself replacing a toilet seat in his Chicago apartment.

“This is my Facebook & I’ve decided to post what my life is really like, not what some expect to hear,” his post stated. “I need to tell you that when cleaning around the bowl to be sure & take off your neck tie; if not it will definitely end up in the bowl water when you lean over.”

Oh, and he bought the new seat in Springfield because “sales tax is cheaper outside of Chicago.”

I feel very informed.

Topinka honors veterans
Comptroller JUDY BAAR TOPINKA got her Springfield staff together Thursday at her office’s Adams Street building to celebrate the service of veterans in her office or related to her employees. It’s an annual tradition for Topinka to mark Memorial Day. A display at the building sports pictures of 64 veterans, spokesman BRAD HAHN said.

Topinka’s son, JOE, is an Army JAG officer stationed in Texas.

Hahn also said Topinka’s rehabilitation after a recent small fracture in her left hip is coming along well.

“At the Capitol this week, she noted that it’s all part of her plan to become bionic,” he said.

Good to hear things are going well.

Bernard Schoenburg is political columnist for The State Journal-Register. He can be reached at 788-1540 or follow him via twitter.com/bschoenburg. His email address is
bernard.schoenburg@sj-r.com.